The Sussex Police Air Operations Unit, popularly referred to by the aircrew's police net callsign, Hotel 900, was a unit of

Sussex Police Sussex Police are the territorial police force responsible for policing in the whole of Sussex. Their jurisdiction covers the ceremonial counties of East Sussex and West Sussex. Their headquarters are in Malling House, Lewes, East Sussex. Hi ...

that provided emergency air support in the English county of

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

. In October 2010, the unit was merged with the Air Support Units of

Surrey Police Surrey Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Counties of England, county of Surrey in South East England. The force is currently led by Chief Constable Tim De Meyer. The force has its headquarters at Mount Brown ...

and

Hampshire Constabulary The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the counties of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in South East England.Hampshire Constabulary, 2012 Retrieved 27 April 2012 The force area in ...

to form the South East Air Support Unit, which officially commenced operations in April 2011. The unit operated a

MD Helicopters MD Explorer The MD Helicopters MD Explorer is a light twin-engined utility helicopter designed and initially produced by the American rotorcraft specialist McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems. On 18 December 1992, the maiden flight was conducted, initial ...

helicopter based at

Shoreham Airport Brighton City Airport , also commonly known as Shoreham Airport, is located in Lancing, West Sussex, Lancing near Shoreham by Sea in West Sussex, England. It has a Civil Aviation Authority (United Kingdom), CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence tha ...

, with aircrew provided by both Sussex Police and the

South East Coast Ambulance Service The South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) is the NHS ambulance services trust for south-eastern England, covering Kent (including Medway), Surrey, West Sussex and East Sussex (including Brighton and Hove). It also cov ...

, and flew sorties at the request of police control at

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

, or the joint air ambulance control desk at

Coxheath Coxheath is a village and civil parish within the Maidstone (borough), Borough of Maidstone, Kent, England. The parish is approximately south of Maidstone. It is mainly centred along Heath Road which links the villages of Yalding and Boughton ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

Operations

Hotel 900 was crewed by a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

, a Sussex Police constable or sergeant

air observer An air observer or aerial observer is an aircrew member whose duties are predominantly reconnaissance. The term originated in the First World War in the British Royal Flying Corps, and was maintained by its successor, the Royal Air Force. An a ...

, and a

paramedic A paramedic is a healthcare professional trained in the medical model, whose main role has historically been to respond to emergency calls for medical help outside of a hospital. Paramedics work as part of the emergency medical services (EMS), ...

seconded from South East Coast Ambulance Service, who was also trained as an air observer. The last helicopter was an MD 902 Explorer and operated from Shoreham Airport. Operational since February 2000, the Explorer replaced an earlier helicopter which had been in service since 1987. The unit was available for missions from 08:00 to 01:30 Monday to Saturday, and 09:00 to midnight on Sundays, although out-of-hours cover was provided for serious incidents. Hotel 900 completed nearly 1,500 sorties every year, of which almost 25% were for ambulance purposes, with the remainder consisting of police tasks, such as searching for offenders or fleeing suspects, identifying suspect or stolen vehicles, facilitating vehicle pursuits, transport of police officers, and search & rescue.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Sussex Police Hotel 900 archive page
on

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

Defunct ambulance services in England Police aviation units of the United Kingdom Defunct organisations based in the United Kingdom 2011 disestablishments in England

Operations

See also

References

External links